A day in the life…….

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uff da!

Oh what a day it has been. I received a call this morning from my sister letting me know that her son who is also E’s PCA is not available to work with E for the next 3 weeks because he signed up for work study at his school. As a result, my sister who recently took a furlough from her job will be watching E. The situation is not ideal. My sister has enough on her plate without worrying about my problem child.

This afternoon, she brought E and his cousin to the pool. They were to wait for me to pick them up on my way home from work. It was only after I walked around the pool for 10 minutes and then enlisted the assistance of a male lifeguard to search the dressing room that I found out that they had walked home. My frustration level was soaring when I reached my sister’s house to pick up E. His complaints on the way home did nothing to lighten my mood.

Things went from bad to worse and culminated in Tom coming home, getting into it with E and then trying to kick him out of the house. Ughh!!! I became the voice of reason and reminded Tom that E was at a point at which he could no longer hear Tom’s reasoning nor reduce his agitation enough to process the point that Tom was trying to make. It is this type of situation where the tag teaming pays off. It is difficult when you are in the midst of the insanity to pull out without an outsider reminding you of the futility of further words and/or actions. See I was listening last summer during the four part parenting series on children with attachment disorders.

Therapy resumes for E next week. His therapist completed an application for mental health case management services for E. It is becoming more clear as E ages and becomes more rebellious that we need extra support. We are hoping to receive respite care 2 weekends per month. This would give the family a break from the daily outbursts and E a chance to chill for a couple of days without feeling the pressure to conform to family norms. When I look in from the outside, I see how really difficult it must be for E to be in our family. He is often comparing himself to our other children and feels inferior in many ways.

Despite the turmoil of early evening, the day is ending quietly and for that I am thankful.